Comedy Classics, Vol. 1 & 2

Starring:Comedy Classics
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Product Type: DVD

TV Comedy Classics, Vol. 1: Love That Bob/Our Miss Brooks

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TV Comedy Classics, Vol. 1: Love That Bob/Our Miss Brooks
Starring: TV Comedy Classics
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ASIN: B000E0ODKO
Release Date: 2006-02-28

The Charley Chase Collection, Vol. 1 (Slapstick Symposium)

Average customer rating:

Some great stuff
Mine Played Fine
Defective dvd don't buy
Silent Screwball Comedy
Charley's Back!

The Charley Chase Collection, Vol. 1 (Slapstick Symposium)
Starring: Charley Chase , William V. Mong , Martha Sleeper , Milla Davenport , and William Blaisdell
Director: Leo McCarey
Manufacturer: Kino Video
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ASIN: B0002CHIEC
Release Date: 2004-08-03

Description

Bringing a collection of seven 2-reeler comedies from the golden period of this acting/producer legend, the CHARLEY CHASE DVD is a fantastic introduction to the funny and frenetic world of Charley Chase and a rare chance to experience the work of one of the most influential short-film comedians of the late 1920s. The CHALEY CHASE DVD brings the following short films: MUM'S THE WORD (1926), APRIL FOOL (1926), CRAZY LIKE A FOX(1926), LONG FLIB THE KING (1923), MIGHTY LIKE A MOOSE (1926), and ALL WET (1924).

In a series of one and two reelers at the Hal Roach Studios, Chase elevated the style of situation comedy to an art form with his unique combination of madcap adventures, beautiful women and wild misunderstandings. After a decade of working in front of and behind the cameras (he was Director General at the Roach Studios), Charley Chase was persuaded to start a new series of one reel comedies in 1923. From the first release, Chase became a hit with the public--"America's New Joy Boy" was filling theater houses with laughter from coast to coast.

Chase discovered that by starting with a simple predicament that any average person could get into, the public could identify with him. Then, gradually, by building a once plausible situation into a fiascfiasco, he could take them to a riotous conclusion that is unbelievable, yet, somehow conceivable. Carefree, frivolous, wild and woolly, Charley Chase was the "Good Time Charlie" that we all wished we could be. Fortunately, due to film preservation, we still have him.

Customer Reviews:

Some great stuff.......2007-06-22

Though he was the biggest comedian working in short subjects in the mid- and late Twenties, unfortunately Charley Chase is largely forgotten today. Happily, however, as more of his work becomes available on DVD and released to the public, it seems as though more and more fans of vintage comedy are rediscovering just how talented and funny he truly was, right up there with the likes of Keaton, Chaplin, Lloyd, and Linder. This disc brings together six of his shorts, four two-reelers and two one-reelers.

'Mum's the Word' (1926) was previously released on Vol. 9 of 'The Lost Films of Laurel and Hardy.' Charley plays a young man who is coming home from school to visit his mother, who has just remarried. On the train home, he meets a young lady whom he, of course, falls in love with. It turns out that she's travelling to the same house he is, where she works as a maid, and that once home, he must pretend to be a new butler, for his mother hasn't yet told her new husband the rather important fact that she has a grown son. It also comes out that the new maid isn't being totally honest about her true identity either.

'Long Fliv the King' (1926) starts out with the not-so-original plot device of a young woman, Helga, having to marry by a certain date and time, but in this case she's not being rushed to marriage because she's got money coming to her--she's got a royal crown coming to her. She settles on Charley, who is in prison and scheduled to die soon. What the new queen didn't count on was that just after they were married and she left for her kingdom, Charley would be sprung from prison and cleared of the false charges against him. He trails her to her kingdom with his new friend/lackey Warfield, played by the wonderful Max Davidson, who is even more forgotten than Charley today. His own films aren't shown too often because of modern-day concerns and sensitivities towards the rather stereotyped Jewish characters he often was stuck playing, but in films such as this (though it does contain a few somewhat cringe-worthy moments), he was more or less allowed to just be himself and to be funny that way. Of course, complications arise when Charley arrives in Thermosa. Many people at court don't want some outsider on the throne, and try to overthrow him. Oliver Hardy also plays a small role in this one.

'April Fool' (1924) is from Charley's days playing a character called Jimmie Jump. Being a one-reeler, the plot is fairly simple and straightforward, people at his newspaper office playing tricks on one another all day, with his sweetheart, the boss's daughter, eventually getting in on the fun too.

'Mighty Like a Moose' (1926) was previously released on Vol. 9 of 'The Lost Films of L&H.' Charley, Mr. Moose, has horrible teeth, and his wife has a rather unfortunate nose. Unbeknownest to the other, they each get surgery, and are so unrecognisable to one another afterwards that they make a date to go to a party being thrown by their doctor. Since they both think they're cheating on the other spouse, a lot of comedy ensues as they're each getting ready for the date. Things get even more sticky when a picture of the two of them shows up on the front page of the paper after the party was busted for having alcohol.

'Crazy Like a Fox' (1926) was previously released on Vol. 6 of 'The Lost Films of L&H,' and co-stars Oliver Hardy in a minor role. Charley is very unhappy because he's being forced to marry a woman he doesn't know, and even more so after meeting and falling in love (or at least lust) at first sight with a young woman he meets at the depot. She too is being forced to marry against her will, but what neither of them know is that Charley is the man she's been matched with. Determined to avoid this marriage, Charley decides to pretend to be absolutely crazy when he arrives at the young woman's mansion. His riotous act may end up working a little too well, however.

'All Wet' (1924) is another Jimmie Jump comedy. Jimmie, who is staying at a boarding house, gets an important telegram telling him to be at the train station by 2:30 to pick up a litter of English Pitbull puppies. He happily dashes off to fulfill what he thinks will be a routine errand, but meets with nothing but car (and other) trouble along the way. Though he was really good in these one-reelers, he was just too funny and talented to be served well in such a short timeframe. He needed that extra reel to continue building up the storyline and his character.

Overall, this is a solid enough introduction to Charley's work for a new fan, though the one-reelers really aren't at the same mature polished level as the later four shorts. It's also unfortunate that fully one-half of this collection was previously released; it's not fair to fans to be asked to buy that much duplicate material just to see a few new shorts. Having three repeats from previous collections might not be that bad had there been more than just six shorts here, but since there are only six, it seems like it would have made more sense for there to be more newly-released material, no matter how great the three repeats are.

Mine Played Fine.......2005-10-15

Look right below me. Since when did this stop being a review symposium and start being the Complaints Department at Macey's? I'm here for the reviews, not for some dopey quality-control issue that should be brought up with the manufacturer and one that the manufacturer and distributer would certainly fix pronto. I hated Don Quixote because of a bad binding? I honestly expect more sense from a Top 500 reviewer. I just came from a review of a Hammer Film (The Devil Rides Out) where some loon from Italy goes on and on about all the DVDs that Amazon sends her are "100% Damaged" including the replacements!!! She's ordering DVDs from the US and she lives in Italy?! A Region Coding problem perhaps? Please visit the review and hit inappropriate, then go to her other reviews and do the same (They all complain about "100% Damaged" DVDs!!). Lets clear out the deadwood.

Anyway, I highly recommend this collection. Chase is a real surprise if you've been stuck with the usuals for silent comedy--his work almost seems like fun rips on Silents that would've been made in the Fifties for, say, "Singin' in the Rain." He especially had an acute eye for an outrageous site gag that somehow made sense. In one film (name forgotten) he's getting out of his car with his golf clubs and a women whizzes by him and nearly misses him. The golf clubs fly way too far up in the air and scatter ridiculously. It's a subtle bit of extra oomph that makes his work so enjoyable.

Thanks Kino--great job!!

Defective dvd don't buy.......2005-07-10

This dvd will only play the first short. There are no links to get to the other movies. The main menu only goes to one movie.

Silent Screwball Comedy.......2005-04-09

In the 1930s, most of the great US directors (Hawks, Hitchcock, Sturgess, Capra, Wilder) experimented with the "screwball comedy" genre. Although hard to define, a screwball comedy usually consisted of a witty middle class couple falling in and out of love and/or marriage, a series of madcap adventures, and witty dialog, often with sexual innuendo. Leo McCarey, who wrote and directed for Hal Roach, also made sound films in this genre (The Awful Truth).

This collection represents Leo McCarey's work with Charlie Chase for Hal Roach between 1924 and 1926. Charlie Chase invites more comparisons with the male leads in Screwball comedies (especially Robert Montgomery and Joel McCray) than with the great "clowns" like Chaplin, Lloyd and Keaton. Chase lacked the physical grace and the ability to create memorable visual humor of the big 3. Instead his humor tended to emerge from being thrown into and out of outrageous, awkward or embarassing situations, typically but not always involving a romantic partner. In "Mighty Like a Moose", both he and his wife try to surprise one another with changes in their facial appearance, then become attracted to each other in their "new look", without knowing their true identity. In "Long Fliv the King", Chase, a condemned criminal, marries a princess of a foreign country out of convenience, only to be pardoned, and thus faced with being King of his inherited land. Sometimes the situations work, but more often they are too outrageous to draw the viewer into the mayhem. Also, the witty dialog of the sound screwball comedies sometimes made up for the silly premises of the plot (think of "Bringing Up Baby"), but in the silent version, of course, such dialog was not possible. So these films, although interesting and mildly amusing at times, may be disappointing to many viewers. One gets the overall sense here that Roach and McCarey were part of an experimental lab for developing more sophisticated alternatives to the "slapstick" genre (so the title of the series "Slapstick symposium" is a little misleading). Like all lab experiments, sometimes they work, sometimes not.

Another interesting aspect of these, and other silent movies, is how often their gags were reused later on. In "Mum's the Word", Charlie and his step-dad perform a sight gag with a window shade that resembles the famous pantomime between Chico and Groucho in "Duck Soup" (also directed by McCarey). Also, there is the "woman making like a chair" scene that was repeated in Laurel and Hardy's sound feature "Blockheads".

In general, it would help to be both a fan of the screwball genre, as well as of the Hal Roach factory, to enjoy this collection.

Charley's Back!.......2004-10-04

It's really kind of sad to think that the name Charley Chase barely registers with anyone nowadays. Sad because in an era of great comics, he was one of the greatest. One of the reasons, probably, is the fact that Charley didn't have the clown persona of a Chaplin or a Keaton. He was much more of a regular guy type, comperable to Harold Loyd although I always thought that Chase's character was much more believable than Loyd's. The release of this DVD is a cause for celebration among all lovers of great comedy. I hope it's the first of many more.
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

The Harold Lloyd Collection, Vol. 1 (Slapstick Symposium)

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Slapstick at its best
Possible door in for new fans
Harold Lloyd, the GREAT
A Pair Of Glasses And A Smile
Now, this is FUN! Even my kids enjoyed Harold!

The Harold Lloyd Collection, Vol. 1 (Slapstick Symposium)
Starring: Sammy Brooks , Mildred Davis , William Gillespie , Helen Gilmore , and Estelle Harrison
Manufacturer: Kino Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0002CHIEM
Release Date: 2004-08-03

Amazon.com

This collection of vintage Harold Lloyd comedies is worth the price just for Grandma's Boy, a splendid hourlong feature from 1922. Lloyd plays a small-town fellow who lives with his frisky grandmother; convinced of his own cowardice, he yearns to compete for the hand of a pretty girl. His courtly call to the girl's home is the occasion for battle with a ridiculous "formal" suit, mothballs, and a litter of kittens attracted by the goose grease on his shoes. There's also a long (and quite funny) flashback to Lloyd's ancestor, tangled in a Civil War fracas. Lloyd, whose aquiline features were rounded off by horn-rimmed glasses, was more handsome and less clownish than many of his slapstick brethren, which made his acrobatic outbursts all the more surprising. That talent is well-displayed in the seven short (mostly between 20-25 minutes) films on this DVD, including Number, Please, which climaxes with a brilliant sequence involving a stolen purse, and His Royal Slyness, which also offers a look at Lloyd's brother Gaylord. --Robert Horton

Description

A standout contributor to the art of silent film comedy, Harold Lloyd (1893-1971) offers new generations a body of film work that is as fresh and entertaining as in its day. His roots were simple--born in rural Nebraska, product of a broken home, and initially destined for the legitimate stage--yet by the 1920s, Lloyd was both at the box office and in the polls, the most popular comic actor in the world.

His appeal was simple: through his Glass Character, which formed the basis of roles from 1917-1947, Lloyd was able to reach audiences as no contemporary could. He is regarded as the man who most greatly influenced eyeglass-wearing in America, and this single facet of Lloyd inspired youth worldwide. His screen normalcy--in look and demeanor--allowed moviegoers to relate to the Glass Character no matter how rich, poor, cowardly or flip he was. Included in this Kino collection are the feature Grandma's Boy (1922), plus the shorts Bumping Into Broadway (1919), An Eastern Westerner (1920), His Royal Slyness (1921), Just Neighbors (1919), I Do (1918), and Number Please (1920).

Grandma's Boy - 1922
One of Lloyd's personal favorites of his films, Grandma's Boy is a beautiful tale of self-discovery, with a bounty of comic overtones. Sonny is a self-professed coward, who balks at the sight of the town tramp (Dick Sutherland). Armed with a lucky charm given to him by his grandmother (Anna Townsend), he defeats the tramp and the town bully (Charles Stevenson), learning a very valuable lesson about himself in the process.

And among the many short films are:

Bumping Into Broadway - 1919
Harold Lloyd's first Glass Character two-reeler, Bumping Into Broadway stars Lloyd and Daniels as theatrical hopefuls - he as a playwright, she as a chorus girl. The action is fierce, as Harold attempts to save Bebe from a wicked society chap, and gets into lots of trouble in the process. Look for Our Gang favorite Gus Leonard in a most unique cameo: as a love-starved woman!

An Eastern Westerner - 1920
Rural comedy abounds in this romp, as young upstart Harold is shipped to his uncle's ranch out West. There, he meets Mildred, assists her in staving off the unwanted affections of rogue Young, and after a wild altercation with a gang of bandits, single-handedly saves the town from the Masked Angels.

His Royal Slyness - 1920
A special opportunity to see the Lloyd brothers - Harold and Gaylord - work together. Harold, a book agent, bears an uncanny resemblance to the Prince of Razzamatazz (Gaylord) - the two switch persons, and Harold travels to Thermosa, where he falls in love with a princess (Davis), and manages to lead the peasants' revolution to victory. His Royal Slyness marks Pollard's final film with Lloyd.

Just Neighbors - 1919
Domesticity turns to squabble-city, as the tranquil friendship of neighbors Lloyd and Pollard turns sour when Snub's chickens get loose in Bebe's garden. The barbs are fast and furious, until peace is restored, when Harold's dog saves Snub's daughter from traffic. A rare film in which Lloyd took co-directorial credit, Motion Picture News called Just Neighbors "...as clever a skit on suburban life as ever was fashioned."

Customer Reviews:

Slapstick at its best.......2007-03-09

My brother really enjoyed this. If your into slapstick get it

Possible door in for new fans.......2005-08-03

While most of the films on here are very strong and solid, I don't think they're guaranteed to turn every first-time viewer into a huge fan. When I rented this from the library to see what all the fuss over Harold was about, I kind of had mixed reactions. I really liked 'Grandma's Boy,' the very early short feature-length film, and also enjoyed, among the shorts, 'I Do' (which was my personal favorite), 'Just Neighbors,' 'Number, Please?' (except for the disappointing ending), and 'Are Crooks Dishonest?' Though apparently a number of people really like them, I wasn't that captivated by 'An Eastern Westerner,' 'Bumping into Broadway,' or 'His Royal Slyness.' Still, it did make me generally interested enough to want to see more, and the next time I had a chance to see more, during the mini-marathon Turner Classic Movies ran of Harold's films during April 2005, I did become a big fan based on seeing some of his great full-length features. I think the ideal introduction to a new fan would be a feature-length movie, like 'Grandma's Boy' on this disc; it really serves to establish Harold's screen persona of the shy awkward smalltown boy, having to overcome obstacles such as cowardliness, meekness, local bad guys, and people who don't take him seriously. He was one of those comedians who was more like just a regular guy (with the simple physical modification of glasses) who got into normal understandable situations and trouble and had to use his own wits and summon his own courage and strength of character to get out of them and save the day. Because most of the shorts on this disc are from so early in Harold's career (some of them even from before the accident that nearly took his own life in September 1919), they might not be appreciated for their humor and brilliance by a new fan who is probably more apt to want to see Harold at the peak of his creativity, not when he was still learning the ropes and developing his character more and more.

Harold Lloyd, the GREAT.......2004-09-27

Ah...this was back when they actually made films. Most people think of only 2 masters of slapstick back in the 1920's, Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Well, Lloyd was as good as them, if not better. The cornerstone of American Comedy, Safety Last(1923) shows us is that Lloyd was more daring than his other 2 contemporaries, like in the scenes where he climbs the skyscraper and I'm sure everyone has seen the priceless scene where Lloyd hangs terrified from the hands of the big clock on the top of the skyscraper. Check this out and see true comedy.

A Pair Of Glasses And A Smile.......2004-09-02

At last - Harold Lloyd films on DVD; and about time too.
Excellent print quality throughout most of this DVD.
If only the musical accompaniment was supplied by "The Crescent City Jazz Band" as it was for the brilliant "World Of Harold Lloyd" series in the 1970's.
However, the comedy is what counts and I suppose I could always turn the sound off and play the music from the aforementioned series.
Now how about a DVD release of "Welcome Danger" which has never been shown in the UK.

Now, this is FUN! Even my kids enjoyed Harold!.......2004-08-30

OK, I've been a fan of Lloyd since age 11, too long ago for me to admit, and I am quite pleased to see at least a smattering of his work released on DVD. While the existing film quality of bits of two of the shorts exhibits nitrate deterioration, most of the material is almost pristine (even if the titles look to have been reshot and not original, for whatever reason). The humor, however, remains belly-busting funny, often with more laughs per reel, I think, than some of the better known Chaplin stuff (or maybe I am just getting Chaplined-out?) My kids, ages 12, 10 and 8, loved the more slapstick antics of Harold's various predicaments/solutions, in addition to cheering him on as he (eventually) prevailed in the feature "Grandma's Boy". I heartily recommend Lloyd to anyone looking for a fun addition to their DVD collection. If you have never seen a silent comedy, or have only seen Chaplin and/or Keaton, you are in for a treat. Now, if only Kino or the Lloyd Trust would get more of his work out on DVD and video!

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet Vol. 1

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The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet Vol. 1
Starring: Ricky Nelson.
Manufacturer: Passion Productions
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0007NFWDK
Release Date: 2001-05-16

Product Description

Classic TV Sit-Com FIVE Episodes 1. David's Car Payment 2. Lonesome Parents 3. Kris Plays Cupid 4. A Wife In The Office 5. Ballerina

Average customer rating:

This DVD was great, but the new restored 90th Anniversary Edition is better.
Slapstick as an art form
The best of Chaplin's Mutual comedies are on Volume 1
Curleycue_82 has it down!
Also in defense of the Little Fellow...

The Chaplin Mutuals, Vol. 1
Starring: Albert Austin , Henry Bergman , Kitty Bradbury , Eric Campbell , and Frank J. Coleman
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
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Chaplin's Essanay Comedies, Vol. 01

ASIN: 6305075522
Release Date: 1997-11-19

Amazon.com

Charlie Chaplin entered a period of tremendous artistic freedom and creative growth when he embarked on his 12 films for Mutual Studios in 1916. As he neared the conclusion of his contract, he became increasingly more ambitious and mixed his tried and true comic formula with social commentary for two of his most enduring works. The Immigrant finds the promised land less than rosy for peasants herded like cattle on the ship and wandering the streets of New York looking for work and food, but the Tramp's ingenuity and resilience make him into a symbol of hope for the future as well as a comic riposte. Easy Street is Chaplin's most successful mix of social issues and slapstick comedy. As a rookie cop in the city's toughest neighborhood, a slum overrun with bullies, drug addicts, and gangsters, the goodhearted Chaplin isn't above a little unconventional policing--when his billy club proves ineffective on gargantuan Eric Campbell's thick skull, he resorts to gassing him with a compliant street lamp. The balance of the tape emphasizes lighter fare: The Adventurer finds Charlie as an escaped convict who hides out in a high society party crawling with cops. When the Tramp decides to take The Cure, he comes prepared with a trunk full of alcohol, which quickly inebriates the guests and staff of the sanitarium. The revolving door becomes a comic centerpiece (like the escalator in The Floorwalker), which befuddles the inebriated Chaplin and infuriates gout-stricken nemesis Eric Campbell. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Charlie Chaplin was the biggest star in film when he signed with the Mutual Company in 1916 for the then-unheard-of sum of $670,000. The twelve films he made for Mutual reflect Chaplin's attempt to use comedy not just as a series of gags, but as a search for genuine, universal truths. Digitally mastered from early generation 35mm negatives, these works provide considerable testimony to Chaplin's skills as both a comedian and a filmmaker. This volume includes the shorts "The Immigrant," "The Adventurer," "The Cure" and "Easy Street" (all 1917).

Customer Reviews:

This DVD was great, but the new restored 90th Anniversary Edition is better........2006-06-25

Up until 2006, these were the best copies on DVD. But now David Shepard and Image Entertainment have restored the missing footage and re-mastered the films , addressing the complaints mentioned below.

So buy the "Mutual Restored 90th Anniversary Edition" instead of this edition.

Slapstick as an art form.......2005-06-21

This is the best single volume of Chaplin you can own -- 4 masterpieces from his most creative period, the Mutual films of 1916-1917. Later films like The Circus and The Gold Rush are to a large extent refinements of the ideas first produced here, and are not significantly more satisfying to watch.

The Cure and The Adventurer are in the style of classical two-real slapstick comedy -- not much of a story, but a small number of ideas mined for considerable comic potential. The Cure is somewhat a throwback to Chaplin's Essanay period, where the humor tends to derive from his character's inability or unwillingness to abide by social rules. In this case, Charlie (not appearing as the tramp character) is a recovering alcoholic in a sanatarium who arrives with a suitcase full of liquor, fights with the staff and other patients, and flirts with, and eventually wins, the heart of a fellow patient, played by Edna Perviance. The Cure demonstrates Chaplin's creative growth since the Essanay years by having more diversity in the comic situations, from the classic "rub down" by the sadistic masseur to various encounters with the staff.

The Adventurer's comic roots are closer to the Keystone years, with two long police chase scenes, including one at the beginning, probably unprecedented in the history of films at the time. The chases, however, are light-years away from the crude, chaotic Keystone versions. Here the humor arises from with the ballet-like grace with which the tramp eludes his pursuers.

By contrast to these films, The Immigrant and Easy Street are so dense in comic possibilities that they could easily have been successful feature-length films -- they compress suspense, drama, pathos and character development into 20 minutes of non-stop eye candy. These films replace non-stop comic situations with a combination of memorable comedy and genuinely moving encounters, such as at the end of The Immigrant, where Charlie persuades a playfully reluctant Edna to seek out a Justice of the Peace, all while being caught in a pouring rain. The best comic moments in The Immigrant involve Eric Campbell as the sadistic waiter. Again there is humor heightened by suspense, as we but not the tramp know he has no money to pay the bill. Chaplin perfectly builds the suspense to its satisfying climax, as the tramp once again uses his wits and quick reaction to avoid disaster.

Easy Street is justly viewed as the best of this series, which makes it the best of Charlie's best. Like The Immigrant, it is perfect in economy and execution, but has arguably the most memorable scene in all of Chaplin's movies, the encounter on the street with Charlie the cop and Eric Campbell the king of the street bullies. Again there is humor blended with suspense, as Charlie shyly enters the scene after we have witnessed the carnage that Eric has caused. The encounter again builds flawlessly and climaxes with Charile using a gas light to subdue his nemesis. The rest of Easy Street, from the opening scene in the ghetto mission, to the hopeful conclusion, combines refined humor with compassion for the poor without being preachy.

The only disappointing aspect of this collection is the background music -- it consists of an amateur score performed on an annoying synthetic piano which often does not match well with the action. Turn the volume down and, if you must, listen to some good jazz of the same period while you enjoy the films -- maybe King Oliver. Or leave it quiet -- Charlie will inspire music in your head.

The best of Chaplin's Mutual comedies are on Volume 1.......2004-10-15

The two-reel comedies that Charlie Chaplin made during his one-year contract with the Mutual Film Corporation are considered his best shorts. Having been offered $500,000 from Essanay to stay, Chaplin signed with Mutual for $10,000 a week for one year and a $150,000 signing bonus. More important, Mutual gave Chaplin virtually complete control over his shorts as writer, director, and star. It was during this period that Chaplin refined his filmmaking techniques and set the stage for moving on to longer and better films, from "A Dog's Life" and "The Kid" to his silent feature films such as "The Gold Rush" and "Modern Times."

Fortunately Kino started restoring Chaplin's work with both Essanay and Mutual, tracking down the best surviving 35mm negatives, digitally mastering the prints to clean them up, and then adding re-orchestrated musical scores. "The Chaplin Mutuals, Volume 1" actually offers the last four of the dozen two-reelers Chaplin did for Mutual, all of which were released in 1917 and all of which co-starred Edna Purviance as the Tramp's leading lady and had Eric Campbell in the role of the heavy:

"The Immigrant" (Released June 17, 1917) is arguably the best of Chaplin's shorts. He filmed 24 hours of footage over two months to produce a 21-minute film when most two-reelers were shot in two days. When Chaplin began, filming the restaurant scene (with Campbell as the head waiter), the film was going to be about the bohemian life, but the scene was too short and he decided to make the Tramp and the young girl immigrants, creating the opening sequence on the boat and the happy ending. Starting with the simple gag of the Tramp leaning over the ship's railing turning out to be something other than what we think, "The Immigrant" is classic Chaplin.

"Easy Street" (January 22, 1917) would be my choice for the second best of the Chaplin Mutuals. Reformed by Edna, the Missionary's daughter, Chaplin plays a cop whose beat is a wretched slum area, hence the irony of the title. There is a short but intricate chase scene before Edna is kidnapped by a dope addict and has to be rescued by Charlie. On the one hand there is lots of slapstick in this one, but you also have a depiction of urban poverty and violence that is a bit unsettling if you can stop laughing long enough to think about what you are seeing.

"The Adventurer" (October 22, 1917), the last of the films Chaplin did for Mutual, has him Chaplin a convict who escapes after a lengthy chase scene and end up rescuing not only the lovely Edna, but her mother and obnoxious fiance. Hailed as a hero, and presumed to be a wealthy yachtsman as is so often the case in these comedies, Charlie is invited to a dinner party at the Judge's mansion where it is just a question of time before his true identity is revealed.

"The Cure" (April 16, 1917) has Chaplin as a wealthy inebriate who is trying to dry out at a sanitarium where once again the lovely Edna catches his eye. If you have ever seen a clip from this one it is probably Chaplin's comic use of the revolving door and the poor guy with the gouty foot. The big joke is that the supply of booze he has brought in a trunk to survive the experience of sobering up ends up being dumped into the mineral spring, which makes for a lot of happy people in the end.

With "The Immigrant" and "Easy Street" this collection offers two of the very best of Charlie Chaplin's two-reelers. If, for some reason you wanted to only pick up one of the three volumes in this set then this would definitely be the one. But I think the whole set is worthwhile, certainly superior to everything Chaplin did with Keystone and Esssanay and clearly setting the stage for what would follow. I had a class once where I showed one work from each of the five periods of Chaplin's career, defined by the studio he worked for, to show how he progressed from simple reelers like "The Fatal Mallet" to my favorite, "City Lights."

Curleycue_82 has it down!.......2003-07-18

I agree with you Curleycue_82. I couldn't wait to write a review to these people!

Also in defense of the Little Fellow..........2003-07-18

In response to this review: "I don't believe that Chaplin achieved comedic excellence until his features. These shorts are crude physical humor and totally unfunny. Dated stuff."

Description

Crawl, spin and fly through "Santo Bugito," and experience the chaotic comedy and silly sensibilities of Santo Bugito, Texas: the small desert town in the middle of nowhere is home to all types of bugs--a crazy group of characters who get into a slew of hilarious adventures, with a Tex-Mex flair! Meet the incredibly romantic duo Carmen and Paco, ants who own a restaurant where everybug knows your name. Then there's Eaton Woode, the consummate suffering artist-termite; the sassy butterfly Rosa, who lugs around her cocoon-husband; the muscular Ralph the Lady Bug; the sweet, but slobby houseflies Clem and Burt; and many other equally eccentric townsbugs. Includes the episodes: Load O' Bees, Sue City, Splitsville, Cupid vs. Clem, How to Eat People and Make Friends.

Customer Reviews:

i can't wait until it's affordable again, whoops missed it.......2006-10-19

i used to love this show on Saturday mornings, I got up just to see it
like when the two flies had an out-gross contest and ate the dung beetles' house and then puked up tidal waves of...puked dung...

so much fun, really tried to get away with a lot

it needs to be re-released, licensed, and gotten out and known
and yeah, it ended wayyy too soon

It should have lasted longer........2004-11-01

I have all three volumes and loved it when it was on tv on Saturday morning. Being that they are bugs, the two flies have a bit of raunchy humor. It's no Simpsons but still fun to watch.

Best of TromaDance Film Festival, Vol. 1

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A great look into independent film...
WHAT YOU'D EXPECT FROM A TROMA DVD...

Best of TromaDance Film Festival, Vol. 1
Starring: Klaus Kinski , and Karen Black
Manufacturer: TROMA ENTERTAINMENT INC.
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ASIN: B00005UW9O
Release Date: 2002-02-19

Customer Reviews:

A great look into independent film..........2002-12-11

Troma's DVD showing off the best short films of their Tromadance film festival in 2000 is a great collection of shorts ranging from weird and twisted to downright hilarious. The three best are "Deadbeats" starring Mick Foley, "Family Dinner Party," and the docu-short "Please Kill Mr. Kinski." The worst one was "SPAG," an odd horror film you'll either love or hate. There are also notes about each movie as well as an episode of Troma's Edge and a few previews for some of Troma's own bloody spectaculars. This is a great DVD for those into the independent market.

WHAT YOU'D EXPECT FROM A TROMA DVD..........2002-02-22

VERY INSPIRING COLLECTION OF HIT AND MISS SHORT FILMS. THE INLET INFO REALLY PUSHES THE IDEA OF MAKING YOUR OWN FILM. A GOOD PRICE FOR THIS GREAT COLLECTION AND THE ENCOURAGING TAKE ON INDEPENDENT CINEMA IS WONDERFUL, BURN HOLLYWOOD BURN, YES INDEED.

HOW WEIRD IT IS TO SEE MICK FOLEY PLAYING A THIRD PARTY COLLECTOR AND GETTING INTO AN ARGUMENT WITH A DEBTOR ON THE PHONE. FUN FOR EVERYONE.

Customer Reviews:

Great Picture Quality. A Must For Fans........2003-01-02

Rhino's DVD release of "The New Three Stooges" cartoons from the 1960s is an absolute must for any Stooge fan.

First of all, this collection contains the first sixteen stooge cartoons: That Little Old Bomb Maker; Woodsmen Bear That Tree; Let's Shoot the Piano Player; Dentist the Menace; Safari So Good; Thimk of Thwim; There Auto Be a Law; That Old Shell Game; Hold That Line; Flycycle Built For Two; Dizzy Doodlers; The Chicken Delivery Boys; Movie Scars; A Bull for Andamo; The Tree Nuts; Tin Horn Dude.

These cartoons do not feature the greatest animation in the world (in fact, the animation makes "Clutch Cargo" look like "Wallace and Gromit"), but they're a must for Stooge fans. Even better than the cartoons are the live action wraparounds by Moe, Larry, and Curly Joe DeRita (who were all looking incredibly old by this point). While the wraparounds are not up the the standard set by the old Columbia shorts, they're still fairly amusing and a Stooge fan's dream.

The picture quality of this release is amazing (at least compared to my muddy old videos). The colour on both the live action and animated segments is incredible, and they're both mostly free of grain. My only complaint is that the opening titles sequence is rather blurry.

On the special features front, there's an interview with supervising producer Lee Orgel, who has some interesting tidbits about the Stooges and some interesting behind-the-scenes facts.

All in all, if you're a Stooge fan, you NEED this collection of cartoons.

Great Picture Quality.......2003-01-02

Rhino's DVD release of "The New Three Stooges" cartoons from the 1960s is an absolute must for any Stooge fan.

On the special features front, there's an interview with supervising producer Lee Orgel, who has some interesting tidbits about the Stooges and some interesting behind-the-scenes facts.

All in all, if you're a Stooge fan, you NEED this collection of cartoons.

Finally a QUALITY co. releases these CARTOONS!.......2002-01-12

Was so glad to find these cartoons finally released by a top-rate CO.....RHINO! GREAT cover too! I love these cartoons! Yes they were cheaply done by CAMBRIA and the live-action sequences were not the STOOGES at their BEST BUT they are fun and entertaining! Love the intro/closing and the theme song too!
Nice that they also included everything in complete one-hour episodes.

These Should Be Good Prints.......2001-12-29

I have not seen this DVD, but I can tell you something about the Three Stooges cartoons. Most of them are not very good (which accounts for the only two stars rating), but a few have their moments. For example, in the one where they are explorers in Egypt Moe makes a quip about his "portable Rosetta Stone". That's pretty witty for the Three Stooges!

Some fans my age may anticipate these more than others, and for that a little history is in order. When these 156 cartoons were released in syndication in 1965, the Columbia two-reelers had been released to television 6 years befpre. So we young fans were hungry for any new Stooges product. Not only did the Stooges provide their own voices (unlike Hanna-Barbera's Laurel and Hardy cartoons circa the same period), but there were live action wraparound intros to each cartoon. In color!

Recently those live wraparounds have been released without the cartoons by Good Times, and many ...fans wrote in to say they were horrible. Well, they ain't great but they were never meant to be viewed without the cartoons.

I don't know which of the cartoons will be available in this collection - and if there's a volume one, perhaps there will be a volume 2. And at the promised 113 minutes, there should be pretty many.

Amazon.com

On the surface, this collection of shorts by up-and-coming African American filmmakers arrived at a perfect time. The cutting-edge products of the New Black Cinema of the early '90s had disappeared, giving way to embarrassingly stereotypical, scatological fare such as Booty Call and Next Friday. This feature-packed compilation (which includes production notes, interviews with all of the filmmakers, and audio commentary by four) attempts to prove that African American cinema is intent on moving past the lowbrow humor, as six of the seven shorts steer clear of any comedy. For example, A Gut Feeling is a creepy, supernatural film noir that relies heavily on moody atmosphere, while Breakfast at Ben's and Kings look deeply into cultural issues such as racism and stereotypes, featuring protagonists rising out of the ghetto. There's even a documentary here, Hip Hop: The New World Order, which attempts, albeit thinly, to show the expansive impact of rap music all over the globe. While this is all respectable, most of these shorts reveal the main flaw that's ruining not only African American cinema, but all American movies: The writing is terrible. Many of these directors demonstrate a knack for visual style and a professional handling of their amateur actors, but the writing, for the most part, is paper-thin, cliché ridden, and often painful (The Gift and Breakdown tie for worst honors). Ironically, it's Charles Stone III's true, the shortest film here--and the one that spawned both the pop culture catch phrase "Whazzup?!" and the successful series of Budweiser commercials--that gets it all right. In a span of 2 minutes, Stone's minimalist dialogue and frantic editing give a hilarious look at male bonding, though virtually nothing is said. On his commentary track, Stone says his main focus as a filmmaker is his words; the script is the key. The other six directors here should listen up. --Dave McCoy

Customer Reviews:

Very inspirational.......2001-11-24

I can't add much to what has already been said about this DVD, but I am glad that I stumbled upon it in the video store. I'm not sure why it's titled "Afrocenticity,"--because it's not really about that, but the focus of Black filmmakers and their work definitely fills a void in the filmmaking industry. For what we get with this DVD is a collection of work by artists who are serious about their craft and are not making up something for a quick buck.

One of my favorite pieces is "Kings," a short film about young successful attorney who is forced to confront where he has come from and where he's going. It's conveys a prevelant theme amongst many African people who have been successful in White mainstream corporate America, but who also are struggling to understand how they keep ties with the community in which they grew up. The directing and cinamatagraphy of this piece are very well done. A warm, soulful mood is set throughout the piece that make for a compelling short story.

Muhammida El Muhajir's "Hip Hop: The New World Order," may be lacking in her camera work, but she makes up for it with her international travels to document the impact of Hip-Hop in places like Japan, France, and Cuba. I hope this piece is made into a full production.

And finally, I liked "Breakdown," which to me has sort of a Hitchkock influence. I won't say anymore about the plot, because it would give it way. In the end, though, the story is not oringinal, it's a fine piece of storytelling that is directed, shot, and edited with serious attention to the craft of filmmaking.

I really look forward to future volumes of short films like "Afrocentricity." These type of collections serve to expose the work of young or unknown artists who are trying to work within and beyond the mainstream.

AFROCENTRICITY - VOLUME 1!.......2001-10-12

This is an OUTSTANDING COLLECTION of INNOVATIVE SHORT FILMS that feature some of the most promising young AFRICAN-AMERICAN DIRECTORS! CHARLES STONE III offers "True," the hilarious short that introduced the now infamous "Whazzup" guys from the Budweiser commercials! JEFF BYRD manages to get VANESSA WILLIAMS to star as the only survivor of a shoot-out at a bus station in "Breakdown." LEE DAVIS directs "A Gut Feeling," which follows two cops on a routine call that goes very, very wrong. CHUCK WILSON's "Breakfast as Ben's (my personal favorite), is a moving story of a young man who works his way out of the ghetto and tries to give something back to the community. NIVA DORRELL offers "Kings," where a successful attorney has to make some very tough choices when his past catches up with him. TANYA BOYD, from "Days of Our Lives," presents "The Gift," based on a true story about a blind sculptor who is offered the chance for surgery that can restore his sight. MUHAMMIDA EL MUHAJIR's documentary "Hip Hop: The New World Order," which looks at how that particular musical form has gone world wide. Each of these films is accompanied by an INTERVIEW with the DIRECTOR, some of whom provide AUDIO COMMENTARY. This is a WONDERFUL COLLECTION of short films by directors we will be hearing a lot about in the FUTURE! More importantly, VOLUME 1 suggests there will be more volumes to come, which is great news indeed!

Hands Down one of the best DVD's I've seen thus far........2000-08-19

This is one of the most original DVD's that I've seen in a long time. It's refreshing to see that someone is actually utilizing the DVD technology to it's fullest. I love the fact that the creators of this DVD filled it with content from the filmmakers themselves like the interviews, directors commentaries and the production notes that come along with all the films.I found all the filmmakers fascinating with there stories about trial and tribulations of making a film. Oh and I really dig the packaging great graphics and design work. Hope to see more DVD's like this one.

The newest batch of great directors.......2000-08-11

THis is really a unique perspective. Not a stereotypical one in the bunch. I look forward to seeing what feature films this group comes back with. Loved true, the kickoff for the Bud campaign and also the Hip Hop documentary was really interesting.

AFROCENTRICTY-- TRULY A COLLECTORS ITEM.......2000-07-18

This awesome collection of short films by Black Directors should air in its entirety on television. I can't believe that this collection is the first of its kind. This DVD sheds light on several Black filmmakers at a time in their careers when making a film is solely about that--making films. This is a must buy for any filmgoer that appreciates film as art and likes to follow a director's career from its inception.

Comedy Classics, Vol. 1: The Three Stooges/Africa Screams

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Comedy Classics, Vol. 1: The Three Stooges/Africa Screams
Starring: Comedy Classics
Manufacturer: Platinum Disc
ProductGroup: DVD
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